Scott jets around on secrecy-heavy ‘bus tour’

Gov. Rick Scott used his private jet Tuesday to commute to a Senate campaign stop for his “bus tour,” marking his second stumble since announcing he was traveling Florida highways this week to “Make Washington Work.”

Scott’s campaign said the use of his plane was a must because the governor couldn’t get from an official hearing of the Clemency Board in Tallahassee to the Republican-rich Villages retirement community in time.

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“Clemency is an important duty that the governor takes very seriously. He took a break from the bus tour today to attend to his official duties and flew to meet the bus in The Villages,” campaign spokesman Chris Hartline said.

“Gov. Scott is able to run an aggressive campaign while continuing to perform his official duties, unlike Bill Nelson, who can’t do either.”

But Hartline said he didn’t know whether Scott has or will use his plane on other occasions to get around instead of riding the bus. In Missouri's competitive Senate race earlier this year, Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill was criticized for doing the same thing.

Scott has removed his jet’s tail numbers from public flight-tracking services, making his whereabouts and travel schedule so secret that one advocacy group went to court last week to force him to disclose his itinerary.

“He’s a phony political leader on a phony bus tour selling a phony plan for his phony campaign,” McLaughlin said. “Everything he does is secretive aimed at shielding or hiding what he’s up to when it comes to public scrutiny.”

Scott’s campaign has refused to publicize his specific “bus tour” campaign stops until the day of the events. Only on Tuesday did the campaign say which cities he’d be traveling to in the coming days.

When the tour began on Sunday, Scott abruptly canceled one of his first stops, at The Donut Hole in Walton County, after the Tampa Bay Times used its sources to ferret out the location. The newspaper's report allowed protesters the chance to gather to demonstrate against Scott for signing a controversial law that restricts public access to some beaches.

Scott’s campaign went on to Panama City, Jacksonville and The Villages. He plans stops in the regions of Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Cape Canaveral and Naples. But the campaign would not name the specific cities he planned to go to, let alone the venues.

Scott’s “bus tour” comes after Republicans have repeatedly attacked McCaskill for flying to stops while her bus tour hit the road.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee called her “desperate to put on a folksy act” and an “elitist” while her opponent, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, said she’s “lost touch of reality.” Republican staffers even dogged McCaskill at events in Missouri, with faux air traffic controllers waving her bus out of events with airport wands.

The story further resonated because Republicans had already dubbed her “Air Claire” for having to pay back taxes on another plane during the 2012 campaign cycle, an aircraft she and her husband later sold. And after the most recent incident of flying between events, McCaskill was unapologetic and continued to use the plane, explaining in an interview afterward that she “can get more places and see more people” with a plane and that she was not trying to hide anything.

“The only reason I think that story had legs, is that somehow they think it was a secret. These were public events,” McCaskill said. “If we were trying to hide something, I guarantee you I’m smart enough to know that I couldn’t physically [get around the state that fast]. There was no attempt to hide anything.”